Sir Martin receives French award
Each year the French Academy of Air and Space awards its Grand Prize in recognition of a “person or a team, European or international, who stands out because of a high-quality scientific, technical or cultural action concerning aerospace, by contributing to or helping spread new knowledge.” The Academy has awarded this year’s Silver medal to SSTL founder and Group Executive Chariman Sir Martin Sweeting.
The Grand Prize award ceremony was held on November 23, 2007 during the Academy’s annual assembly in the “Salle des Illustres” at the Place du Capitole, Toulouse.
Mr Jean Broquet, former Technical Director of EADS Astrium, France, received the award on behalf of Martin during the open session of Air and Space Academy on Friday Nov 23rd at Toulouse. The presentation of Martin's achievements and successes was made by Gérard Brachet former head of CNES and currently Vice President of the Academy. He gave a general view of Martin's activities and of his pioneer role and he pointed out, in particular, the major role of SSTL for securing the frequency slots allocated to Galileo, with GIOVE-A.
Jean Broquet had the opportunity to say few words including a reference to Martin's colleagues of both SSTL and Surrey Space Centre (SSC) for their contribution to the SSTL missions.
